Pagan vs Heero
by Cynthia and Mari-chan
Summary: Pagan is determined not to let Heero sneak into Relena's room. But he is equally determined not to reveal that he knows what Heero is trying to do. Just a silly little thing I thought of, that will be added to as inspiration strikes.
1. Chapter 1

Pagan vs. Heero

Pagan was actually a great deal younger than he looked. He had gone grey at a young age, which had helped him advance from the position of footman to butler when he was still in his late thirties. When he had accompanied the baby Relena from the Peacecrafts to the Dorlians, her new parents mistook him for a man quite older, and he had never bothered correcting them. Indeed, he now took great pleasure in giving people the false impression of an aging octogenarian. There is just so much one can do under the cover of age.

Which was why he was now sneaking down the unlit hallway, conspicuously in his night clothes, as the moon shone high in the night sky, intending to "innocently interrupt" one Heero Yuy as he was creeping himself toward the direction of Relena's bed chambers. After all, Pagan thought of Relena as his own granddaughter, and no self-respecting grandfather would let a young man sneak into his granddaughter's bedroom, regardless of how said girl felt about the young man.

As it happened, Pagan nearly missed the black clad young man, as he was standing silent in a dark corner letting him pass by. It was only his memory of the furniture layout, and his determination to thwart him driving Pagan to scour and re-scour every dark shadow with his eyes, that made him stop and take a risk. He couldn't be sure that the young man in question was where he thought he might be, nor that he wasn't elsewhere within earshot that Pagan might embarrass himself addressing a piece of furniture, revealing that he was, in fact, unsure if Heero were there at all. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and Pagan was _not_ going to allow Heero succeed.

"Oh! Master Heero! Are you headed to the kitchens for a snack as well?" Pagan held his breath and hoped he hadn't just erred considerably.

A moment passed and nothing happened. Pagan began to suspect that he had made that mistake, and was just glad that there were no witnesses. Then a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to see Heero step out of another corner, a corner behind him and one he had already examined thoroughly and discarded.

Pagan felt a moment of shock, followed closely by a settling feeling in his stomach of disappointment. But, determined to let Heero think he had been talking to him and not a formless shadow, he turned to him and raised an eyebrow in question, sure that the skilled young man could see him perfectly in the pitch darkness.

"Master Heero?"

"Hn." Heero acknowledged him, jerking a brief nod. His face remained impassive, revealing none of his thoughts.

Determined to follow through his pretence, Pagan proceeded to chat about his own desire for a snack as he led the young man downstairs and away from his charge.

Heero remained silent, glancing back briefly without turning his head and allowing a small smirk, before following the overly protective ageing butler soundlessly.


	2. Chapter 2

Pagan vs. Heero round 2

Pagan was feeling rather happy with himself lately. He'd thwarted Heero Yuy again the night before, having arranged to calmly walk by her door just as he made his final approach.

He longed to place his own cameras in the corridors near Miss Relena's quarters, but knew that she would never approve. She would consider it an invasion of her privacy. Being so closely watched by security, she once had told him, was bad enough. And that was for her own protection. Any more, and she was likely to feel like an attraction at the zoo.

Pagan was sure that Miss Relena would not enjoy thinking he was following her every move as well.

He sighed, and continued his inspection of the new gardener's work. Miss Relena had taken such a liking to Lily-of-the-Valley when she'd discovered it growing in the rear gardens, that Pagan had instructed it to be transplanted nearer the house. He could see the new man had not wasted any time; there were dozens of them in the rows by the patio, filling the air with their gentle scent. Perhaps he should arrange to have some in vases throughout the Palace? Certainly Miss Relena would enjoy one in her room.

Pagan froze, and frowned, his subconscious had picked up that something was wrong. He listened but heard nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly the birds did not sense anything; for they still chatted to one another, singing their happy tunes. Slowly he straightened himself, his gaze sweeping an arc across the gardens. Nothing odd there either. The new gardener was there, tilling the soil in preparation for more transplants.

Pagan examined the man. He had had to let the last one go, after he'd been caught taking pictures of Miss Relena. He'd sworn they were for his own use, but Pagan could not be so sure. Tabloids were always willing to pay big money for candid shots. It did not matter how innocent the subject matter, tabloids could insinuate anything.

However, this man did not seem to be paying any attention at all to the Palace. He seemed to be in his element, digging in the earth. And there was no sign of a camera hidden anywhere on his person. In fact, Pagan narrowed his eyes, there was no place on this man one could hide a camera. He wore no shirt; his tanned and muscled torso was exposed to the sunshine. He wore only an ageing pair of boots and a long pair of shorts; shorts which, as the breeze changed, Pagan could see hid nothing.

Narrowed eyes became a definite frown. This was unacceptable. He could not let his 'granddaughter's' sensibilities be offended. (His subconscious also told him he didn't want to see Miss Relena possibly ogling this man. He could only deny that she was growing up so long as nothing happened to shake him out of that belief. And he would not allow that to come to pass.)

Yes, the new gardener definitely needed a lesson on the proper attire to wear when on the Peacecraft estate. And now was the best time for that lesson.

As Pagan was traversing the paths between flower beds, however, the man in question looked up. And not at him. Pagan gritted his teeth and turned, expecting to see the very girl he was trying to protect. His brain worked to find a distraction before he could greet her, something to divert her attention from the half naked man behind him.

Only Miss Relena was not there. No one was. A little disoriented, Pagan turned back to the gardener, but the man was still intently watching _something_. He followed his gaze over to the Palace, up to the roof specifically, and there he saw movement. He squinted, focusing on the form clad in a mottled brown, perfectly matching that of the roof tiles. There, was none other than Heero Yuy, kneeling on the roof and attempting to swing over the eaves trough onto a balcony. Miss Relena's personal balcony.

Pagan was disgusted with himself that the gardener had seen Heero, while he hadn't. So much for the training he'd been doing, to hone his senses for this very purpose. He was also disgusted with Heero Yuy, for making his self appointed duties of protecting Miss Relena so difficult. Honestly, _the roof_?

Determined, once again, to hide his ire, Pagan cleared his throat rather loudly. "Ahem. Master Heero?"

No movement, but then again, Pagan had expected that. Heero never gave up immediately when caught. He liked to make you question yourself first, before he confirmed what you suspected.

"Master Heero, is there something wrong with one of the security cameras on the roof?"

Heero hid his smirk. "Malfunction," was all he said, then, "easily correctable."

"I see," intoned the butler, not fooled for a second. He knew exactly why the young man was up there, and exactly what it was his duty to prevent. "Is there anything you need?" He asked in a remarkably light tone of voice. "Tools or parts?"

Heero only shook his head briefly. No, he had all he needed.

After making a show of dismantling one of the security cameras, examining and adjusting it before rebuilding it, Heero took his leave. Both the gardener and our butler were stunned, however, when he did so by jumping directly to the ground. Relena's rooms were on the third floor, and there was another story above that before the roof began. Pagan had heard stories of the exploits of this young man, had been amazed and awed that anyone was capable of such things, but he had always taken the more extreme ones with a grain of salt. Yet this young man had just jumped more than fifty feet, and landed as though it were but five!

Pagan was incapable of speech as Heero calmly walked away. If this were his adversary, he needn't feel too poorly about not seeing him on the roof.

This reminded him of the gardener, and the little chat he needed to have with him. "Mister Brown," he began...


	3. Chapter 3

Pagan vs. Heero round 3 part 1

Pagan had just about had it! The preparations for the banquet had come up against one obstacle after another.

First it was the freezer breaking down two days before the event; causing all the beef for the entrée to be spoilt. He'd had to make emergency preparations to replace it. And of course, the supplier, sensing his desperation, had naturally inflated the price.

Then, just as the last of the two hundred pounds of beef were being safely stowed in the newly bought, emergency-installed-at-a-premium-price freezer, Relena walked in to confirm the entrée was indeed chicken Kiev.

Chicken!

Confused, Pagan had asked her to clarify. He had pulled out the elaborate menu planned for the evening; the one he had used to plan the necessary ingredients to be purchased. To his great consternation, Relena had calmly drawn his attention to the date; last month.

Next month!

Apparently this banquet was to host, among others, both the Prime Minister of the region known as India as well as several of its religious leaders. The cow is sacred in India, and thus unacceptable dinner fare.

Panic had swelled up in Pagan, he couldn't think, couldn't respond. It was all he could do to make his feet move to follow Relena as she had led him to his own office. He had stood mutely, dreaded horror written clearly on his face, as Relena calmly went through his desk, finding the banquet's proper menu in short order.

She had smiled as she handed it into his numb fingers. His ears had been deaf to her kind words of encouragement, and her enthusiasm for the night to come.

Pagan didn't like to be unprepared. He didn't like to be thrown off balance. Most of all, Pagan didn't like to feel stupid.

Today, he had never felt more stupid in his life.

There was no way on earth his would admit that stupidity to his princess by letting on he had very little in the way of chicken in the stores.

And so off to a poultry ranch it had been. This farmer had been more considerate than the beef packer; the price was fair, and he had delivered it promptly. The first good fortune Pagan had had all day.

The dinner preparations had been an hour off schedule, but not something unworkable. The chefs, at least, had known the appropriate menu, and had made all the necessary preparations.

It was with a heavy heart that Pagan had informed his princess of the unfortunate delay. No matter, she had reassured; they could simply extent the length of time planned for pre-banquet mingling. Besides, she had confided with a secret smile, diplomats loved to hear themselves speak. It would not be hard to 'encourage' them to give more elaborate speeches.

That matter settled, Pagan had turned his talents toward overseeing the hall preparations. That was where the next set of problems had presented themselves. The dais for the head table had not been assembled. Executing his considerable managerial skills, Pagan promptly pulled four of the busy footmen away from the kitchen and set them to this task.

Next came the ice sculptures. They were wrong. More specifically, they _were_ the planned upon sprites and nymphs; but they were naked, and a little _too_ anatomically correct. It still made Pagan wince when he thought about the poor male sprites, and what the sculptors had cut and shaved to make them into a more appropriate 'gender neutral'.

Still, that wasn't the worst of it. The worst had been the ballroom preparations. One of the footmen had been clumsy in preparing the chandeliers. The rope had slipped, a chandelier had fallen, and some crystal had shattered, along with Pagan's nerves.

If it hadn't been for the quick action of his under-butler, ushering him back to his quarters for a rest before the first of the guests began arriving, Pagan was sure he would be a raving lunatic by now.

The banquet itself, and the ball following, had progressed without incident. Princess Relena was escorted by the world's most eligible bachelor Quatre Raberba Winner. Heero Yuy, keeping guard from the shadows, was elusive as always and next to impossible to locate.

Pagan knew that Winner was not only a frequent political ally, but also a loyal and dear friend to Relena, and so had had no qualms about leaving her to his care.

.*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*.

2 a.m.

Yet, now that all but closest friends and family had taken their leave, and Heero had come out of hiding, Pagan was once again on alert.

It wasn't just that the sometimes Preventor and former Gundam pilot Duo Maxwell had begun surreptitiously refilling the princess' wine glass. It wasn't just that she seemed to be blissfully ignorant of her progressing intoxication. What alarmed Pagan was that Princess Relena, Queen of the former Sanq kingdom, former Queen of the World, was becoming faintly 'touchy feely' with her head of security.

Indeed, Pagan now noted with a growing frown, she was not just touching his arm to gain his attention, she was almost petting it! And when Heero turned to face her, her fingers remained there, loosely wrapped about the front of his left bicep.

This did not please Pagan in the least.

How was he supposed to protect the innocence of his 'Granddaughter' if she continued to be in the company of such virile young men?

She must be too buzzed from the wine to be aware of her actions, Pagan decided. It made no sense otherwise; Relena was not a physically demonstrative person. It was in her nature to be reserved.

This was Master Maxwell's doing. Pagan decided to have a word with him, but not before finding a distraction to separate Relena from Heero. Pagan moved forward, but paused when he heard voices on the other side of the door. He admitted Milliardo Peacecraft and his lovely wife Lucrezia into the drawing room.

The pair had been curiously absent from the night's event. Pagan was sure Milliardo would attribute it to a delay in travel plans, but Pagan suspected it had more to do with Milliardo's feeling uncomfortable being at an event attended by so many who knew just what he had tried to do during the war. In fact, it was surprising just how many events he missed due to various 'inconveniences.'

Pagan glanced back at his charge, noted her delicately flushing face, and decided intervention was needed. But perhaps, he thought, looking back at the newly arrived couple, tact required a more feminine hand.

"Relena?"

The young woman in question turned at her name. "Noin," she smiled, "you've arrived." The two women embraced. "Trouble with air traffic, I take it?" she said with a smile.

"Of course," replied Noin with a wink. "Actually, Relena," Noin continued, discretely guided Relena away from the others, "could I have a private word with you in your quarters?"

Pagan stood at the door, watching the two women speaking in low tones.

"Thank you."

"Hm." Pagan glanced at Milliardo, standing beside him with his arms crossed. Realising the other man had discerned Relena's condition immediately, and was grateful for his intervention, he nodded his welcome and turned back to watch as Relena made her regrets and retired for the night.

It did not escape his notice that Heero's attention had also been fixed upon the women. Nor did Pagan fail to observe the Gundam pilot now quietly distance himself from the merrymaking. Why, if he didn't know better…

Pagan turned back to Milliardo. The man wore a determined frown on his face, and the tension in his body held him as rigid as steel. Without a word, Milliardo made a smart pivot and marched from the room with a purpose.

It seemed to Pagan he now had an accomplice.

Best to find his position before the Gundam pilot made his move…

tsuzuku...


End file.
